Dear friend,

If you’re reading this, you might be walking through your own wilderness right now, a season that feels endless, lonely, or completely overwhelming. Maybe your world has been turned upside down. Perhaps you’ve lost someone, faced betrayal, or battled through pain so deep that it took your breath away.

I know that place. I have lived in that wilderness stripped of security, struggling with chronic pain, heartache, and the devastation of a 25-year marriage ending. For fifteen years, I carried physical pain that tested my body, and emotional pain that tested my spirit. But through it all, one truth remained: God did not waste my pain.

In fact, He used it. Every tear, every sleepless night, every moment I thought I couldn’t keep going, He was there. I couldn’t see it then, but God was shaping me, teaching me, refining me. What felt like punishment was actually preparation.

When we find ourselves in dry, desolate seasons, it’s easy to think God has forgotten us. But beloved, hear me, He hasn’t. He’s closer than you think. In the wilderness, distractions fade away and we meet God in the raw, quiet places of our soul. That’s where His voice becomes clearest.

The Bible reminds us in Psalm 46:5, “God is within her; she will not fall.” Those words became my lifeline. When I had nothing left, His strength held me. When I couldn’t pray, His Spirit interceded. When I felt invisible, He reminded me that I was seen, loved, and chosen.

If you are in that season right now, I want you to know: your pain is not wasted. God is using it to birth something beautiful inside you. You may feel trapped in a cocoon, isolated and still, but you are being transformed. One day, you’ll emerge with wings strong enough to soar. Like an eagle, you will rise above the storm that once tried to break you.

There will be days you feel weary, but even then, God promises in Isaiah 40:31:

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary.”

That’s not just poetic. It’s personal. It’s your promise.

So, friend, take heart. The wilderness isn’t forever. It’s the place where roots grow deep and faith becomes unshakable. It’s where your heart learns to beat in rhythm with His again.

Keep journaling. Keep praying. Keep declaring His Word out loud because His promises are living and active. When you speak His Word, you activate His power in your life.

You are not forgotten. You are not forsaken. You are seen, held, and deeply loved by a God who knows every detail of your story from your first breath to your last.

And one day, when you look back, you’ll see it so clearly: the wilderness didn’t destroy you. It revealed the strength of the One who lives within you.

You won’t just survive this season, you’ll be transformed by it.

With love and faith,
Tabatha Crook
Author of God Is Within Her, She Will Not Fall